Control structure for electrically heated devices



April 11, 1950 P. J. MOCULLOUGH Filed Jan. a, 1945 CONTROL STRUCTURE FORELECTRICALLY HEATED DEVICES 37 FIGS.

INVENTOR; PAUL J. MC CULLOUGH BY @1 M ATTORNEY 'ltllllll Patented Apr.11, 1950 CONTROL STRUCTURE FOR ELECTRICALLY HEATED DEVICES Paul J.McCullough, St. Louis, Mo., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to The Toastswell Company, Incorporated, St. Louis,Mo., a corporation of Missouri Application January 8, 1943, Serial No.471,686 3 Claims. (Cl. 219-19) The invention relates to apparatus forcontrolling the operations of electric toasters or other cookers, andmore particularly to such apparatus which is setfor a heating operationduring a predetermined period only and then acts automatically toterminate the heating operation.

One object of the invention is to simplify the construction of thedevice by segregating the parts for connecting the device to an electricsupply current from the parts forming the timing mechanism and the partsfor manually setting and regulating the timing mechanism.

An incidental object is to decrease the expense of the construction byavoidin the use of substantial bus bars or corresponding lengths ofwiring usually required in like devices for leading the current from thesupply circuit connection at one end of the device to the controlmechanism at the other end of the device.

Another object is to simplify the control of the device by utilizing asingle manually operated member for closing the electric circuit,energizing the timing mechanism and determining the setting of thelatter, 1. e. the timing period.

These and other detail objects of the invention as will appear below areattained by the structure shown in the accompanying drawings, which.structure is intended to be illustrative and not handle and associatedcontrol member at the front or left hand end of the toaster.

The toaster body includes a base I. a housing 2 and end plates 3 and 4forming the toasting chamber 5. These parts also comprise framing uponwhich the resistance heaters, the timing mechanism, the switch and otherelements are carried. The body base, housing and end plates may beconstructed and assembled as illustrated and described in anapplication. Serial No. 470,191,

filed by the present inventor December 26, 1942,

now Patent No. 2, 404,915, July 30, 1946.

Each of the heating units 6 consists of resist- 'ance'wires I wound upona sheet of insulation Three of-such units are shown; therebeing a 2space between the middle unit and each side unit for a slide of bread tobe toasted.

End plate 4 mounts spaced uprights 9, and a channel-shaped carriage I0has apertured flanges I I slidable along the uprights. Slice supportsI2, rigid with carriage I0, extend through slots I3 in plate 4. Atension coil sprin I4 has its lower end secured to the lower flange IIof carriage I0 and has its upper end anchored to a bracket I5 on plate4. The spring yieldingly supports the carriage I0, and the parts mountedthereon, in the elevated position indicated in Figures 1 and 2.

The timing mechanism unit includes a clock Work escapement, indicatedgenerally at I6, which has a main gear I! driven by a friction disc I8provided with an arm I 9 which carries a latching and trip lever 20pivoted to the arm at 2| and tilted in a clockwise direction by atension coil spring 22. A coil spring l9a is anchored to bracket I5 andpulls arm I9 upwardly.

A bracket 23, rigid with carriage I0, extends through a slot in thefront wall of the housing and mounts a handle 24 by which the carriagemay be moved manually from the elevated position shown in Figure 1 to alowered position in which a lug 25 on the upper flange I I of carriageID will engage a notch 26 on lever 20 to hold carriage I0 and the partsmounted thereon against upward movement by spring I 4 except aspermitted slowly by clock work escapement I6 and as released by thetripping of lever 20 by a link 21 pivoted at 28 and slotted to receivethe tail of lever 20 and limit its upward movement with carriage I0,thereby swinging notch 26 to the left. Link 21 may be controlled by athermostat '29 to trip lever 20 at different intervals of time upon theinitial downward movement of the car riage by handle 24, This downwardmovement is limited by the engagement of a stop 30 on body base I by apiece 3I slidable along the rear face of handle 24 and having ahorizo'ntalfinger' 32 projecting through a horizontal slot S extend ingtransversely of the handle; A fiat spring 33 seated against a shoulder34 on bracket 23 thrustsline by a cord 36 having the usual fitting (notshown) at its outer end for plugging into a suitable outlet. One of thecordwir'es'is secured to a binding post 31 which is connected by a wire38 to one end of the resistance heating unit consisting of elements 7.The other end of this unit is connected by a wire 39 to a contact 40adjacent to but spaced from 'a contact 4! on the other binding post 42to which the other cord wire is attached.

Contacts 40 and 4| are connected and discon-. nected electrically by themovement towards and away from them .of a disc-like member 43 carflea onthe outer end of an arm 44 extending transversely of the toaster from ashaft 45 journall'ed in notches Njin plates 3 and 4 and having anarm 46at the forward end of the toaster extending upwardly through a slot inlower flange H on plate I0. A wire spring 41 is anchored to plate 4 atits ends and intermediate its ends bears against shaft 45 to hold thesame to its seat in the adjacent notch l T.

When handle 24, bracket 23 and plate ID are moved downwardly th'eyfserveas an actuator to energize the timing mechanism, arm 46 being swungdownwardly to rotate shaft 45 and to lower arm 44 and disc 43 to classthe circuit. Elements 46, 4| and 43 form a switch structure for theheating element circuit. 7 Normally this switch will be closed duringthe early downward movement of handle 24 and plate In and elements 44,'45 and 45 will be formedof spring wire which will be distorted duringthe further downward movement of plate I!) after disc 43 engagescontacts 44 and 4!. Hence the shaft and its arms will contribute to theenergizing of the timing mechanism. Also the spring structure ofelements 44 45 and 4B accommodates maintenance of a closed switch duringmost of the upward movement of plate '10 by the springs under thecontrol of the clock work. The circuit will be opened suddenly upontripping of lever latch 26 and not before.

I Member 43 and its mounting on arm 44 are detailed in Figure 4. Themember body consists initially of a cup-shaped part 51 having anannularv groove 52 receiving aring 53 of silver or similarhigh-conductive material. An insulation washer '54 overliesthe bottom ofcup 5!. A collar button-shaped element C has its base 55 seated oninsulation 54 and is covered by an insulation washer fifii and isclamped between these washers by the bending inwardly and downwardly ofthe upper portion 5! of the cupwall. A shank 58 Xi dsimW vir ba .1 ndhas an larged head 59. The end ofyarrn 44 is loosely coiled aroundshanle58 beneath head 59 and member 43 is fre'eftc tilt about an axisextending With a device constructed as described, the cord connection tothe source of current supply is at the rear of the device and the partmanipulated by the user is at the front of the device, as is desirableand as is customary in devices of like nature, butthe switch in thedevice itself is also at -the rear of the device but is operated by themanually manipulated parts at the front of the device. This provides forthe segregation "of the switch parts and the timing and settingmechanism, although they are operatively connected, and eliminates asubstantial amount of wiring, or bus bars, as is customary to carry thecurrent from the. rear of the device to a switch located 'at the frontof the device. The switch is closed and the timing mechanism isenergized and the device set for terminating the operation at the end ofa predetermined period by the manual manipulation of a single part,namely the handle 24, and the timing period may be variedby an elementof this same part, namely the finger 32 which is slidable transverselyof the handle. In othenwords, the user. needs to observe but a singlerestricted part of thetoaster. It will be understoodthat the featuresreferred to may be embodied in devices other than bread toasters and indetailed structure differing substantially from that illustrated and.described without departing from the spirit of the invention, and theexclusive useof modifications comme; within the scope of the claims iscontemplated.

What is claimed is; I

1. In an electric circuit control for an apparatus, a pair of spacedterminals, an element for engaging both of said termiea a manuallyoperable part spaced afsubstantial distance from said terminals andslidable from a non-operating position to a selected one of successiveoperating positions to vary the operation of the apparatus and to closea circuit and slidable from said operating positions toopen the circuit,an elongated member journalled near itsv endsinfstationary bearings andhaving arms extending transversely of its length, one of saidarms beingsecured to said terminal engaging element and the other of said armsbeing connected to said part, said part rotating said member to engagesaid element with said terminals when said part reaches the first ofsaid positions. and said member yielding upon engagement of saidterminals by said element to accommodate further movement of said partto successive positions. v

2. In an apparatus including a timing device and an electric circuitswitch oontrolled thereby,

a manually operated part 'slidable from an inoperative point to one ofseveral successive operative positions to energize the timing device fordifferent periods of operation according to the selected position towhich the part is moved, and movable from the selected operativeposition to the inoperative point as the timing'device' functions; aswitch actuator comprising a r e'jcurnanea'm stationary bearings andhavinga resilient crank arm at one end c nne tedte neinevabieby saidpart to rotate the a's-the'p'art-is; moved between said pcint and thefirst-of'said positions; an offset arm on the other end'bf said rod,and'a switch member connected thereto adapted to close and open theswitch by said movementsoi said actuator, said actuator yieldingindependently-of movement of 3. In a device of the classdescribed; anelec trically energized unit having a compartment with substantiallyspaced ends and substantially spaced sides, a switch opening and closingmember near the center of one end of the unit, a manually operated partnear the center of the other end of the unit, an elongated U-shaped rodconnected at one end to said part and extending therefrom alongside thecorresponding end of the unit to one side of the unit, then alongsidesaid side of the unit to the other end of the unit and then alongside ofthe first-mentioned end of the unit to said switch member, said partbeing mounted to slide on a stationary mounting in a substantiallystraight line from a non-operating position to a selected one of severaloperating positions, a device varying the time said member holds theswitch closed according to the operating position of said part, said rodbeing actuated by said part to move said member to switch closingposition as said part is movable to the first of said operatingpositions and then yielding to accommodate further movement of said partand the end of said rod connected thereto.

PAUL J. McCULLOUGH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

Number 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Hawes July 14, 1896 Sundh et alJune 20, 1905 McIntire July 30, 1907 Wright June 27, 1911 Warner Dec. 9,1913 Garros May 11, 1915 Duncan Jan. 2, 1917 De Khotinsky Apr, 26, 1921Klopsteg et a1 May 24, 1927 Randolph Jan. 7, 1930 Mafioni June 24, 1930Bowie Aug. 11, 1931 Bowie May 2, 1933 Manley Aug. 23, 1938. Lodge Mar.7, 1939 Sardeson Sept. 5, 1939 Sardeson May 21, 1940 Crabbs July 16,1940 Gough Oct. 7, 1941 Henry Oct. 28, 1941 Valkenburg July 7, 1942Lucia 1- Aug. 25, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Number Great BritainAug. 7, 1919

